2024
Semi-Auto
34.9 mpg
Tax: £190
Mileage: 1,456
Petrol
Mileage: 1,667
2023
36.2 mpg
Tax: £180
Mileage: 1,834
33.2 mpg
Mileage: 1,975
35.3 mpg
Mileage: 2,000
Mileage: 2,003
34.5 mpg
Mileage: 2,097
See if CarMoney can save you £££ on car finance. Rates from 8.9% APR. Representative 17.9% APR. CarMoney Ltd is a broker not a lender
Mileage: 2,412
35.8 mpg
Mileage: 2,751
Mileage: 2,772
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Once upon a time, a hot hatch didn't have to be a mature, sensible thing. That wasn't the point of buying one. You got a shopping rocket because it was fun - with just enough practicality to enable you to justify the purchase to your other half. With the S3 though, it was different. Here was an aspirational premium GTi with a price tag to match. A hot hatch for people who ordinarily, would have grown out of hot hatches We first saw it way back in 1999 at a launch over-shadowed by an Audi TT sportscar that shared the S3's quattro 4WD system and got a slightly pokier version of its 2.0-litre turbocharged unit. That's a basic mechanical configuration the German brand has stuck to ever since - but of course power has spiralled since then. The early 210PS output figure was quickly upgraded to 225PS in the first generation version, then boosted again to 265PS for the MK2 model introduced in 2006. By 2013 though, it was clear that even that kind of power was going to be insufficient for admission into the premier league of hot hatches, so the 2.0-litre turbo engine was redeveloped from the ground up to make 300PS and plumbed into the lighter, stiffer MQB platform that had offered so much extra agility and efficiency to more mundane third generation A3 models. A lot's changed though, since 2013 in the super hatch segment. Cars like the Mercedes-AMG A 35 and latest versions of the BMW M135i and Honda Civic Type R now offer buyers arguably more exciting ways to own a practical sporting car with around 300PS at this price point. So Audi has done what it can to make Sportback and Saloon versions of this S3 a lot smarter and a little more engaging to drive. Here, we look at the improved 333PS version of this fourth generation model, introduced in Spring 2024.
No one actually needs an S3 - but then no one actually needs a hot hatch either - so if you can afford to get yourself a shopping rocket, why not buy one that makes you feel the way this car does? It's certainly the sort of sports hatch that might well appeal if you owned all the loudest and fastest GTIs in the Nineties and Noughties and now just want something that can do it all without drawing attention to itself. The improved version of this fourth generation model delivers this subtlety with a little more driving involvement, but there are still critics who'll point out that it could be more engaging - that it could grab you a little more by the scruff of the neck. In some ways though, pointing that out probably says more about the tester than the S3. To be frank, it never has been that sort of ride. Where this car still scores is in its massive capability and its beautifully engineered feel-good factor. The joy of ownership here doesn't necessarily come from clipping apexes at the limit of grip, although the S3 will indulge you in that way if you want. Instead, it comes from owning something jewel-like and exclusive, a very, very quick car that doesn't overly-immerse you in the business of going... well... very, very quickly. The thinking person's superhatch? You're looking at it right here.
Borrow £6,000 with £1,000 deposit over 48 months with a representative APR of 18.1%, monthly payment would be £172.36, with a total cost of credit of £2,273.28 and a total amount payable of £9,273.28.
